[b3lha]

Originally Posted by longassname

Hello Phil,

That's all I was trying to clear up. From everything I was taught in several graduate courses the view you had expressed earlier and just did again on software copyright is dead wrong. It's also contrary to the legal opinion that was given to me when incorporating ECUtune.


I am not selling the Subaru software. As the owners of SVX ecu's my customers already own the Subaru software. I am selling modifications to the software and hardware which enables those modifications and multiple tunes. If this was an OBDII engine management system then I would be selling a flash dongle which applied the changes without rewriting the Subaru software; however, since it is an OBDI system the base code and modifications must be packaged together. This isn't a problem since in order to use it you must actually already own an SVX ECU.

I very certainly can claim copyright on my modifications. That does not mean that if one were to figure out where the rev limit data is stored on their own and wanted to change that data to equal 7400 rpms and figure out how to do so on their own that they could not do so. It does mean that someone could not use my software to figure out the location, and or what to change the data to, and then do so.

So anyway..the rule of thumb I gave before isn't mine; it's not something I made up. It's an accepted rule of thumb. You may note that in the examples you gave that were supposed to sound rediculous they did not meet the rule of thumb because they did not involve the use of someone elses work. If your use of someone elses work causes them financial harm then you are violating their copyright. If your completely independent work produces the same results of someone else you haven't used their work and haven't met the rule of thumb.

The reason I am trying to make this clear is because while you may do your own work I am not as confident as you that nobody else will use your work to steal my work. They should know that if they do so...whether they sell my work or email it to people for free, or post it for others to have for free they will be liable for all financial losses I might ever suffer as a result.

OK Michael,

We agree that the modifications you make to Subaru's software belong to you. If I hear of anybody distributing copies or derivatives of your work then I will inform you and you can put your legal theory to the test. I really hope that the members of this community have enough integrity not to steal your work.

I am not in the tuning business and I have no commercial interest in this. It's just a hobby for me. Any information I uncover, or modified eproms that I make will be posted on my website for others to use as they please. But it is all strictly experimental and it comes with no warranty whatsoever. I am well aware that throughout the course of this thread I have already posted a certain amount of erroneous information but that is the nature of experimental work and I'm trying to correct it as I go along.

Phil.